1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a purchasing transaction support system, which supports a purchasing transaction made by a customer at a physical retail store by using a portable communication terminal. A portable communication terminal is a cellular phone, a microcellular phone, a personal digital assistant, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-184087 discloses an electronic shopping system using a cellular phone. This system uses a cellular phone provided with a downloaded purchasing transaction program. A purchasing transaction program is downloaded from a seller's server to a cellular phone. A cellular phone is provided with a program loader.
A customer searches merchandise in a virtual store by means of, for example, a cellular phone. If desired merchandise is found, the customer purchases the merchandise. The customer pays for the purchased merchandise through the cellular phone.
In a conventional electronic shopping system, when the customer selects merchandise through a cellular phone, a server sends information about the merchandise, such as a price and explanation to the customer's cellular phone. The merchandise information is displayed in the cellular phone. Therefore, the customer can confirm information on merchandise before buying the merchandise. However, this system covers only one store, and merchandise information sent from a server to a cellular phone is limited to one kind for one item of merchandise.
It is also desired that the customer makes a purchasing transaction at a physical retail store by using a portable communication terminal. Namely, the customer visits a physical retail store, and searches merchandise in the store by operating a portable communication terminal. If desired merchandise is found, the customer makes a request to purchase the merchandise. The customer pays for the purchased merchandise through a portable communication terminal.
However, prices of merchandise and service contents are different in physical retail stores. Therefore, it is necessary to build up a system capable of supplying the customer's portable communication terminal with correct information on the merchandise sold in a store where the customer is actually shopping. For this purpose, a store must be identified through a portable communication terminal, before the customer searches merchandise.